Bruised social media stocks flash buy sign: Expert

The drubbing taken by big-name social media stocks this week serves as a buying opportunity, one industry watcher said Friday.

"This is a buy the social stocks in your portfolio moment. Let's be real, Twitter is not going away," said Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki, which owns Twitter and Facebook stock, in a CNBC "Closing Bell" interview.

Shares of LinkedIn closed more than 18.5 percent lower Friday after the professional network set weak guidance in Thursday's quarterly earnings report. Twitter and Yelp shares also took beatings during the week partly as a result of the companies issuing disappointing outlooks.

Gerber contended that Twitter is a "beautiful search tool," calling its Periscope live-streaming app "a game changer." The company's ad business may not be as damaged as it seems, and Gerber believes Twitter could make a strong acquisition for Google, he added.

He said many social media names may not deserve the pessimism Wall Street has shown.

Despite their obvious benefits to consumers, most stocks in the sector make a poor investment, said Jeff Reeves, editor of Investorplace.com. Even with a large pool of users, many social media companies don't show the bottom-line growth needed for an investment, he contended.

"I'm in it for the profits and there just aren't any," Reeves said Friday on "Closing Bell."